Books by Dick (Professor of Sociology Hobbs

An in depth sociological, historical and personal analysis of the concept and reality of organised crime in the UK. With interviews from thieves, dealers and criminal entrepreneurs, the book explores the flexible nature of the criminal market, the constructed nature of the notion of organised crime, and the normalisation of criminality.

Features an attempt to understand Britain's night-time economy, the violence that pervades it, and the bouncers whose job it is to prevent it. Using ethnography, participant observation and extensive interviews, this book charts the emergence of bouncers as one of the graphic symbols in the iconography of post industrial Britain.